What is a comfortable room temperature?

I have this ongoing disagreement with wife and difficult child regarding the thermostat.

I have always considered 70 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit (21 to 23 deg. C) to be standard, comfortable room temperature. I have programmed the thermostat at 74 with the A/C on or 70 when the furnace is running.

Well, difficult child and wife think that 74 is too cold, let alone 70. So they override the programmed settings by pressing the "warmer" button on the thermostat. I have several problems with this:

- 74 is already at the upper end of my comfort level.

- They seem to believe that the more times you press that button, the faster the house will warm up. I have said that no, the furnace only has one speed. If you want 77, you won't get it any faster by setting the thermostat at 80 than you will by setting it at 77. They nod their heads, agree with me, and go right ahead and bump it up to 80.

- Since heat rises, the bedrooms upstairs are typically 4 or 5 degrees warmer than downstairs where the thermostat is located. I frequently wake up in the night bathed in sweat, to find that the thermostat was left on 77 or 78 and the b/r is consequently 82 degrees.

difficult child has always been this way. Every one else will be comfortable in t-shirts and flip-flops while she is dressed in sweater and thick socks, with a blanket wrapped around her, complaining about the cold. wife only started this recently.

Is it a side effect of some medications that they feel so cold all the time? wife recently started on Lamictal.

I consoled myself over the summer that at least we were saving on the electric, but with winter coming on I don't want to see the gas bills to heat the house to somewhere between "toasty" and "infernal regions".

Anyway, my question is: what do you consider to be a comfortable room temperature?

Hi,
I would say about 70 degrees is comfortable for me but we kept the thermostat set at 68 when we are home. I would be so hot at 80 degrees, especially at night when I am sleeping. We turn it down to 64 at night--I like having to use blankets. Want to come live with me? Sounds like we are more temperature compatible!
Jane

I'm with you - 70 to 74 (21-23) is considered a normal room temperature, with myself preferring the 70. I can handle 74, though I consider it a bit warm. It may be the medications. One of the owners at work here had a serious illness 3 years ago and now takes medications, and he is always cold. He's not in the office the full 8 hours, but when he is he cranks the thermostat to 77-78 (25 C) I can tell as soon as it goes over 23 and I'm not the only one complaining it's too hot, so we turn it back to 21. He was turning it up to 78 on days it was 95 outside this summer. My husband likes it hotter too, so he'll feel cold and turn the lever as high up as it will go. There are times then when he leaves for work (he works nights)and, as you do, I'll wake up broiling because he's forgotten to turn the lever back down and it's 90 in the house.

All of my life before my heart attack in March, I was always cold. I kept the heat around 76 and still bundled up in flannels, thick socks and a blanket and still had goosebumps. The kids were going to melt or I would have turned it up higher...closer to 80. I had a heater at my desk at work and ran it in the summer when the A/C was on. I had 3 sweaters at work and a dozen more at home. Last summer when it was so hot (in the 90's), I thought it felt really good...couldn't understand what people were complaining about.

My husband faced my temperature needs when we first got hitched. I was pregnant and ALWAYS HOT. I kept that little all bills paid apt so cold you could make ice cream on the counter! Not really, but husband rode his bike about 10 miles to work and came home in the hot OK summer to a freezing house. He used to go for a walk before coming in.

But if I get to hot I barf. Have for years. Surgical menopause made things even more fun. Not.

As for bedroom ceiling fans, they make me seasick. And I cannot sleep without a blanket. HE cannot sleep without a fan blowing on him. We have compromised to a fan on the nightstand blowing on him but not me.

I like 68 or 70. Will go higher in the summer, but only because I must. My body really doesn't like heat. I get a lot of migraines if I am hot, too.

Am pretty much at a constant 70, however, during my hot flash days there were some pretty horrid discussions on how hot/cold it should be.

I have a rule no heaters at night in the winter (having said that I live in Ca.) I hate waking up in the middle of the night gasping because I can't breathe because it is so hot.

If anyone is cold, they are welcome to one of the 4 dogs (totaling about 275 pounds) that spend the night, winter or summer, under the covers. As long as I have a leg free to regulate my temp when the body heat gets too much, I am fine. Besides, they all have heated matress pads.

OK this is such a lovely thing. husband and I are redoing an old home as we live in it. So in the winter last year we did not let the thermostat go over 62. In the summer we have window conditioners and I think the only one that ran full time was the living room. Then came pcs room and then as needed in other areas.

I am stingy about it because dang if I am going to pay one more penny than I have to on the bill. So when difficult children come home for visits they freeze in the winter as Residential Treatment Center (RTC)'s have to run at 72. I have lots of spare flannel shirts, sweatshirts, blankets etc. If you are cold in the winter use those things.

In the winter we usually keep it between 68-72. I'm often covered in blankets, other times sweating up a storm. In the car is where husband and I are always opposite-he's hot, I'm cold. On long trips I now bring a blanket or two and he wears a tshirt!

Well, BBK, I guess I can't come to your housewarming party. I would FREEZE at your house.

I'm always cold. I have to wear cuddl duds under my clothes all winter (and I live in Georgia).

husband and I compromise and keep the thermostat at 74 ~ I would prefer 76 degrees. When we built our house, I had a wall heater built into the wall of the master bathroom since I hate getting out of the shower into a cold bathroom in the winter.

My students and I play thermostat war in my classroom. I'm forever turning up the heat and the kids are always turning it down when I'm not looking (and vice versa with the air conditioning).

This is one of the joys of living alone. I can regulate the temperature any way I want and nobody complains. In the summer I keep it about 80 but I have the fan blowing on me. In the winter I like it about 70, except at night, when I like it about 60. Of course I have lots of blankets and two dogs to keep me warm. :cool-dog: Once it gets above 70, I absolutely cannot sleep.If I am up working, 68 is about the perfect temp but if I am just sitting, a couple of degrees warmer is good. Isn't it funny that we all have such individual internal thermostats? No wonder people can't agree on what the thermostat should be set on.

I think it really depends on the person. husband and I keep this house between 75 - 85F year round. But we heat with wood and the sun and it costs us less than $400/yr.

I am truly non-functional below 70F. I just shut down. husband was born and raised in Florida, so he likes it warm. DS says it's too warm for him.

My brother keeps his house set at 63F all winter. BRRRRRRRRRRRR That's his comfort level. I have friends in UK who insist that 70F is HOT. They much prefer the mid 60's or a bit lower.

So I think it depends on your body type and preferences. (Of course, your pocketbook will probably weigh in heavily if you use conventional heating systems.)

But conversely, my bedroom is cold with NO heat, as I can not regulate my body temps well. If it's too hot, I can't sleep, as one typically lowers their temp to sleep. I must regulate my temp by exposing legs, etc. to cool down.

We have no heat on the second floor at all, just what comes up the stairs or through the registers from below. Leaving doors open or shut regulates the temp up there.

As a child growing up in a cold, very old farmhouse that for some reason had the electric heating in the CEILING!!, I was always cold and swore when I grew up, I'd never be cold like that again. And I have not, having had wood heat most of my adult life.